About volunteerism...

It was like locusts descending on a field of corn. Before, there was plenty; after, there was almost nothing.



The fundraising Cake Sale in the Parish Centre last night, in aid of new sound equipment for the Family Mass Group, was a short-lived affair.

Everything went. Fast. Your editor was fortunate to be able to buy a half brown bread for his supper, and only then because somebody who had already lifted it changed her mind. It was all home-made, too.







"And people say nobody bakes at home any more," Siobhan Tutty-Bardon mused as she waited for the after 7.30 mass hordes, guarding the goodies on her own while the other helpers took the chance to attend mass.

Well, they do. And they don't mind giving their time an expertise to a good cause. "Isn't volunteerism great?" Siobhan added. She'd just take a text on her phone from a friend who was also in the middle of a community project as a volunteer.

Yep, volunteerism is alive and well, even if some of our Government ministers have suggested otherwise in recent times, decrying the materialistic effects of the Celtic Tiger they take the credit for creating.

Actually, whatever wealth was created was done by people, not politicans. And, perversely, those same politicians continue to benefit from the efforts of the people they are elected to serve.

Haven't seen Bertie volunteering for much lately ... except to volunteer whinges about the fact that he hasn't a yacht, or a Chequers, or special tax deals.

Still, real volunteerism is alive and well in Kilcullen, and in similar communities all over the country.

Brian Byrne.